Facebook unveils sharper ad-targeting tool

Feature called ‘partner categories’ aims ads based on what users buy

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Facebook Inc. is offering advertisers a sharper way to aim ads at users based not just on their interests but what they actually buy.

Reuters

Facebook unveiled a new ad targeting tool on Wednesday designed to focus on what users actually buy.

Facebook’s
FB, -1.18%
“partner categories” feature, which was unveiled Wednesday, lets advertisers target ads to “more categories of people,” the company said in a blog post.

“For example, a local car dealership can now show ads to people who are likely in the market for a new car who live near their dealership,” the post said.

Currently, advertisers can show ads to users based on their “expressed interests” on Facebook. With the new feature, advertisers can also show ads to users “based on the products and brands they buy across both desktop and mobile.”

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said the feature is similar to how Google’s
GOOG, -0.73%
business works.

“It’s a good move, and will give advertisers greater confidence that they are reaching a relevant audience,” he told MarketWatch. The feature “adds a self-serve feature that will enable local ad purchases. It makes Facebook more robust for the average advertiser.”

The new feature will initially include 500 unique groups. Facebook stressed that “no personal information is shared between Facebook, third parties or advertisers.”

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“The advertiser only knows the size of the audience and can’t access any information about individuals included in a category,” the post said.

Facebook has gotten in trouble in the past for they way it handled user information, particularly their purchases. The company was sued a few years ago over a feature called Beacon, in which users’ transactions were posted on their public profiles. Facebook later shut down the program after it settled a class-action suit.

Paul Levy, an attorney with Public Citizen, a legal-advocacy organization based in Washington, said the new Facebook offering can still raise privacy issues.

“I have mixed feelings,” he told MarketWatch. “There are some privacy concerns, even if the data is not individualized. You sort of worry about the data accumulation.”

He added that “once the database exists, it can be subpoenaed, and some people don’t like the fact the system marks them down because it’s creepy.”

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